My four year old pair of Ptychochromis oligacanthus have finally spawned again after about a year off. I believe the reason for the hiatus had to do with the inability of the female to successfully compete for food compared to her more aggressive tank mates, hence not being able to "egg up". I have seen this with other Madagascan species too (P. maculatus, P. menarambo, P. bleekeri) and until I made a concerted effort to get her more food, her ability to spawn was compromised. Even though I tried to drop the food right in front of her nose, she would get "rattled" and intimidated when other fish were splashing about her, snapping at the pellets. She seems to prefer feeding at the surface, rarely chasing sinking pellets. So I had two strategies that I thought might help . First whenever I fed that tank (180G) I adopted the mindset that I was just feeding her, literally playing games to try and keep the others away from the food.To help ensure she get her fair share, I would lure them to one end of the tank and then quickly rush to where the female was, "flooding" her area with food. This worked for a very short while until they caught on to my antics. They quickly saw right through the "fake 'em out" routine . So the next strategy was to provide floating food sticks in some quantity so she'd get at least "her share of the pie". And she seemed to respond positively to my antics. So by alternating these two strategies, I managed to get her belly fuller and within a few days, she dropped her ovipositor. The pair spawned yesterday. The video shows the parents guarding their newly laid precious eggs. Look at those beautiful faces. Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
PS I believe I'm beginning to think like a fish http://youtu.be/wH5MYG32Cww

"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them".
- Albert Einstein